a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for processing sheet material, in particular papers of value such as bank notes, checks, etc., wherein different groups of sheet material are processed one after the other, the different groups of sheet material being separated for processing.
b) Related Art
A method and bank note processing machine for processing different groups of bank notes is known for example from JP 62-82493 A. The different groups of bank notes correspond to deposits by different depositors which are separated by separation cards. The separation cards are inserted between the different deposits to separate them. The separation cards can be disposed at the beginning, the end or the beginning and the end of the group of bank notes forming the particular deposit. The separation cards can contain information for example on the depositor and/or the deposit. Furthermore, the separation cards are designed so as to be recognized automatically by the bank note processing machine during processing. When a separation card is recognized the bank note processing machine can enter in the books the associated group of bank notes for the corresponding deposit or depositor.
The known method has the disadvantage, however, that disturbances and erroneous results often occur during processing of different groups of sheet material despite the design of the separation cards because the separation cards cannot be recognized or the information of the separation cards not read by the bank note processing machine so that they are not accordingly taken into account. Further problems are caused by the fact that preparation, i.e. an operator's separation using the separation cards, is error-prone.
It is therefore the problem of the present invention to state a method for processing sheet material, in particular papers of value such as bank notes, checks, etc., by which different groups of sheet material are processed one after the other, the different groups of sheet material being separated for processing, which allows processing of the different groups of sheet material which is improved both with respect to the recognition of the different groups of sheet material by the bank note processing machine and with respect to the proneness to error during preparation by an operator. Furthermore, separating means are to be stated which can be used for separating the different groups of sheet material and are suitable for carrying out the inventive method.
The invention starts out from the idea of using a container for each group of sheet material for separating and processing each group of sheet material. The separating means or container thus delimits the individual groups of sheet material clearly from each other.